It's Never Too Late
by sjohn2999
Summary: "That boy sure was unpredictable... she would have plenty of time to figure out mystery boy in class tomorrow.  Rose had always loved a good mystery."
1. Toads Are Very Useful Creatures

**A/N: I started this story a long time ago, and found it yesterday. Let me know what you think.**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

It's Never Too Late

Chapter 1: Toads Are Very Useful Creatures

He had always hated these rides. Hours of perpetual boredom, stuffed in an overcrowded, overheated train compartment, forced to listen to people gossip about the unimportant things in life. He had ridden this train back and forth from home to school and back for five years now, and he figured the sixth year wouldn't reveal any hereto unexplored joys. The most enjoyable part of the journey was the fifteen or so minutes right after the train started moving, and the students were still walking around, trying to find a compartment and still gabbing with their friends in the hallway. This was the time when he had time to himself to gaze out the window and ponder nothing in particular.

Today was a rainy one, which caused the window by his seat to fog up with condensation. With an almost lazy grace, he lifted his fingers to the damp window and began to absentmindedly trace patterns through the water. Within minutes, the lines had spider webbed across the window to create an artful maze on its surface. As the picture is completed, he leans back in his seat and watches the bead of water from the end run down the window, creating its own train in the design. Unfortunately, his moment of peace is over with the sound of the compartment door sliding open and a triumphant voice saying, "There you are Cor."

With great difficulty, he refrained from sighing, but he could not help rolling his eyes at his reflection in the window before he turned to look at the girl standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Well," she said coyly, "aren't you going to say hi?"

"Hello Blair," he replied dully. Unaffected by his less than enthusiastic greeting, Blair sat as close to him as she could and rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh Cor," she crooned, "I missed you this summer. You hardly wrote at all. I must have written you about a dozen letters, and I only got about three from you, Cor."

"I was busy," he replied shortly, as Blair ran her long, dark finger down the side of his jaw. Blair Zabini had indeed written him several times that summer. He had written her back just enough times to make his father happy and to stop the flow of increasingly sappy letters from continuing. In his opinion, he put up with her enough at school that it was unfair to make him write to her during the summer, but his father liked the pair to correspond.

Blair's father had been friends with his when they went to school. Not great friends from what he could gather, but her family was rich, and Blair was beautiful. Whatever else she was, he could not deny that she was beautiful. With her slender, dark-skinned body and waves of dark black hair, half the boys at school loved her just for her figure. Those who didn't like to watch her walk down the halls fell under the spell of her chocolate eyes and pouty lips. Despite her physical charm, he simply could not stand her. She was whiny, loud, and malicious, but what he disliked most about her was the fact that she insisted on calling him "Cor."

From the moment they first met, she had tried to rename him: "Your name just takes too long to say. You need a short, one-syllable nickname." She had promptly tried out several different versions: Scorp, Orpi, and even Us (that one just confused everyone). Finally, after a solid month of changing his name every day, she settled on Cor and has called him that ever since. He supposed he should be grateful that she hadn't picked a stupider option, but he had never understood it. Was it really that hard to add the extra two syllables to get Scorpius? His only consolation was that none of his other classmates had started to call him Cor.

He was saved from further chin stroking by the entrance of his best friend Edgar Goyle. Goyle, like his father before him, was a thickset boy who needed help finding the right end of a fork so he could shovel food down his mouth at a seriously alarming rate. Goyle's mental slowness did not bother Scorpius. In fact, Goyle was one of the few people he really enjoyed the company of, seeing as it was never uncomfortable to be silent with Goyle. Also, Edgar never pushed Scorpius into unwanted conversation. If Scorpius talked to him, Goyle would answer back, but he was just as comfortable staring at the wall for a few hours.

Just as Goyle took his seat across from Scorpius and gave his usual silent not as greeting, the door slip open once more and Scorpius' other best friends walked in. Melanie Flint had captured his attention on their first day of school at Hogwarts. He had been running late to class and rushed down the deserted halls, nearly crashing into her as she hid behind a suit of armor. "What are you doing?" he had asked. She had just shushed him and pointed further down the hallway. Peering around the armor, Scorpius had seen the caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, clawing into a mouse hole. Creeping silently, Melanie had snuck up behind the unsuspecting cat, whipped a Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes firework out of her pocket, attached it to the cat's tail, and lit the fuse. Yowling, Mrs. Norris had streaked off to get her master to put out the firework, and Melanie had grabbed Scorpius' hand and ran, chortling, in the other direction. Several seconds later, they had heard a loud bang, the screaming of Mrs. Norris, and the angry swearing of Filtch the caretaker. The two children had arrived at class five minutes later and received a double detention. Ever since, Melanie and Scorpius have been friends, and the hairless tailed Mrs. Norris has been mortally frightened of the pair of them.

Now, Melanie takes the seat next to the door, props her feet on the seat across the aisle, and winks at Scorpius while taking out the latest issue of TeenWitch. "Thanks for the letters Scorp," she said impishly, ignoring his frantic gestures for her to mention nothing of the sort. Scorpius grimaced as Blair shrieked, "What? You wrote to her! You barely wrote to me! Why would you write more to your friend than your girlfriend?"

Blair, it seemed, had the idea that just because they were the two best looking people in the year, he automatically belonged to her. No matter how many times he tried, he could not dissuade her. She cared nothing for anything other than the superficial, and that drove him crazy.

Blair continued to rant at him, while he blocked her out and glared daggers into Melanie, until the trolley witch came around. While paying for his licorice wands, he hissed in Melanie's ear, "Thanks for the help, Mel. I was getting on fine without you."

"Scorpius, the pleasure was all mine. We both know you don't like her, I'm just trying to make her see it."

"Well stop it. She's annoying enough when she likes me. Think of how bad she'd be if she didn't."

Chucking, Mel sat down, returning to her magazine, and Scorpius returned to the window to daydream, tossing a licorice want to Goyle on his way. The rest of the journey was spent in silence, at least on Scorpius, Mel, and Goyle's part. Blair did not stop talking the entire time. Even while they were putting on their robes she talked their ears off. She didn't even seem to notice no one was listening or responding to her blabbering.

As the train slowed to a stop, compartment doors all along the corridor opened and students filed out into the queue. Just as Goyle was leading the way out into the hallway, he was shoved back in by James Potter who shouted, "Watch where you're going GarGoyle," and received a few laughs.

Scorpius stuck his foot out the door; tripping James and making him face plant on the wooden floor. Making a fake sincere face, he offered his hand, saying, "Make sure you watch yourself Mr. Potter. You don't want to go breaking your face again."

James scrambled to his feet and was about to make an angry retort when a voice called, "James? Come on. What's taking you so long? We want to get good seats for the feast." Rose Weasley came hurrying down the hall, took James' arm and led him away before he could do more than shoot Scorpius a glare, but Scorpius was not paying attention. His grey eyes were fixed on the back of the red hair walking away from him.

He remembered the first time he had ever met Rose. It had been late November, and he had just come from Herbology class where he had been admiring Professor Longbottom's toad. He had been pondering whether he could convince his father to buy him a toad for his birthday; after all, toads were very useful creatures; when his food fell into a vanishing stair, and he tumbled to the ground. As often happens when someone falls, his belongings scattered across the stone floor. Yanking his leg out of its trap, Scorpius had bustled around, frantically collecting his belongings before they could disappear in the crowd of students pushing through the halls. He was reaching for the last notebook while trying to stuff the rest into his bag, but another hand beat him to it. His eyes followed the arm holding his notebook up to the face and found themselves staring into the unsuspectingly kind eyes of a Gryffindor. Rose Weasley was in the rival house. Why would she help a Slytherin? Scorpius reached out his hand for the book, which she dropped into his arms with a small smile before running off to join her cousin Al for lunch. Scorpius stood there, puzzled, until a few moments later when James came by and forced him to scramble around on the ground again.

From that day forth, he had been fascinated by her. Any chance he got, he would sit near her in the library or walk behind her in the halls. He never got too close, of course. He didn't want to draw attention or suspicion to himself, so he kept a respectable distance.

_Well,_ he thought as he watched her walk to the horseless carriages, _that was five years ago. I may not like toads anymore, but Rose still fascinates me. _As Scorpius and his friends waited in line for a carriage, Scorpius made up his mind. This was going to be the year that he would finally talk to her, and at least become her friend. With this cheerful thought, he climbed into a carriage just as Goyle said, "Hey. That's funny. 'Break your face again.' I get it!" As they set off toward the castle, Scorpius' laugh mingled with Goyle's guffaws.


	2. Picking Thorns

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I have no excuse really. Anyway, here's Chapter 2. It's in Rose's perspective. I'm going to alternate the perspectives between her and Scorpius through the whole thing. I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share your thoughts.**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

Chapter 2: Picking Thorns

Noisy chatter filled the Great Hall during the start of term feast. The sorting had been completed, and the clinking of knives and forks added to the din as Rose ate dinner with her cousins and fellow Gryffindors. Although his night was the highlight of the week for most students, Rose looked forward to the next day's classes with unheard of anticipation. Rose loved school, a trait she received from her mother because her father's favorite day of school was his last one.

It's not that Rose didn't like the feast, the food was always excellent, especially the chocolate gateau, but the conversation she often found lacking. James, for instance, had been talking for a half hour now about the reestablished Silver Arrow broomstick line. He droned on about brakes and airstreams, not caring whether anyone was truly listening to him, which no one was. Albus was fully absorbed in devouring as much food as he could. Six foot five when standing, Rose figured Al had to eat so much in order to stay alive. Hugo, meanwhile, had a chicken leg in one hand, while guiding a beetle through a maze of mashed potatoes with the other. As she watched, the beetle escaped the walls of the maze, only to be snatched up by a long purple tongue that protruded out of Hugo's pocket and quickly retreated again. Laughing as Hugo scolded the creature in his pocket, Rose turned her attention to her younger cousin Lily. Lily was one of those girls that always looks like she just stepped off the cover of _Which Weekly._ He clothes, hair, and make up were done just so, and no amount of wear seemed to have any effect. Even during potions class, when the heat from the flames caused other girls hair to frizz up, every strand on Lily's head was exactly where it should be. At the moment, Lily was absorbed with staring at the boy six seats down from her, no doubt dreaming up a wild fantasy about the two of them, involving dragons, fairies, and a few man-eating manticores. In Rose's opinion, Uncle George's Patented Daydream Charms had done nothing to improve Lily's sense of reality.

The golden plates finally cleared themselves as Professor Clearwater rose to her feet. The Professor was one who followed the rules strictly. Nothing less than the best would be tolerated. No mischief was allowed. Ever since the passing of Professors Slughorn and McGonagall, Clearwater, who started as the Muggle Studies Professor, had tried to make every child behave. She attempted to do this with the aid of the prefect system. She had set up a system of informers that would rat out every misdeed to her. On the whole, it was a good plan, but when children don't want to behave, nothing can be done. The students had created an opposing system of havoc wreaking that was so efficient they were never caught; however, every so often, maybe once a week, someone would sacrifice themselves for the greater good and get caught on purpose. This made Clearwater and the prefects happy because they thought they were spectacular crime stoppers. They never found out they were being scammed.

Clearwater began her annual start of term speech, which was always exactly the same. Anyone who had gone to Hogwarts for more than three years pretty much has the speech memorized, so the majority of the students were not paying attention. Most felt that they did not need to hear about privileges being revoked if they were naughty, or how it should be everyone's priority to avoid detention at all costs. The students agree with the last part, but the methods were completely different: Clearwater meant they shouldn't do anything that could land them in detention, but the students just tried not to get caught.

Rose took advantage of her familiarity with the speech to examine her fellow witches and wizards, looking for any obvious changes since last spring. From the looks of it, over at the Ravenclaw table, the Corner twins, Margaret and Mildred, had tried to color their hair. Rose assumed they had meant it to be blond, but had used too much dye. The result was banana colored hair that they seemed to think was fetching. She must remember to tell them how very… um… exotic their new look was. At the Hufflepuff table, Junior McMillian had pierced his ear. Instead of looking cool like Uncle Bill, Junior just looked like, well, he was trying to be cool but couldn't quite pull it off. Glancing at the Slytherin table, Rose didn't see many people who had changed over the holidays. Each of them looked just as contemptuous and sulky as before, not the least bit worth studying. The only person worth looking at was the tall and slender blond boy, sitting with his arm on the table and his hand running through his hair subconsciously.

Eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, Scorpius Malfoy seemed to be contemplating the meaning of life itself. Ever since she could remember, her father and Uncle Harry never had anything nice to say about the Malfoy family. When her parents were her age, the Malfoys had been involved in the Dark Arts, but that was ages ago. Scenes of Dark Magic had been unheard of since before she was born, and who was she to say the Malfoys hadn't changed? Besides, Scorpius' only crime, as far as she could see, was being in Slytherin house, and he couldn't help that. Anyway, Rose could not bring herself to believe her father's accusations that all Malfoys were bad, especially after the first time she had seen him.

It had been a nice fall day during her first year at Hogwarts, and she had been on her way back up to the castle after an afternoon visit to Hagrid. As Rose admired the beautiful patterns the lengthening shadows made on the sloping lawn, she heard the familiar whimper of Fang the boarhound. The poor dog was nearing 30-years-old, and no one knew how much longer he'd last. Following the sound of Fang's whining, she saw him struggling to get out of a thorn bush. Rose was about to rush to his aid when she noticed someone was already by his side. Not wishing to frighten either the dog of the boy by suddenly appearing, Rose hid behind a tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forest to watch. After several minutes of carefully moving branches and muttering reassuringly to Fang, Scorpius managed to extract the dog from the bushes, then spent the next quarter of an hour picking thorns out of Fang's gray coat. When the job was finished, Fang licked Scorpius' face in thanks. The boy laughed in delight as Fang slowly ran off.

Rose watched the dog return to Hagrid's cabin before turning back to look at Scorpius, but the boy had disappeared. Rose wandered back up to the castle thinking about what she had seen. Nothing about the say Scorpius had handled the dog showed any of the malice her father talked about. In her opinion, anyone who was that nice to an old, broken-down dog could not be mean; and in the five years since then, Scorpius had never given Rose any reason to change her mind.

Watching Scorpius made Rose wonder what he was thinking about so seriously. She had never thought of Slytherins as very profound people, but he was definitely thinking of something deeper than the hair style of the stunning girl sitting next to him. He was always so mysterious, and she wanted to figure him out.

Just as she made this decision, Clearwater's speech ended, and she and Albus headed toward the doors of the Great Hall, following the mob of people off to bed. As the Slytherins departed from the rest of the group at the main staircase and headed off toward the dungeons, Rose glanced Scorpius' way. She watched as his girlfriend put her arm around his waist and pulled him close. Surprisingly, he pulled away and went to walk with Goyle. That boy sure was unpredictable. Anyway, she thought as she entered the Gryffindor common room, she would have plenty of time to figure out Mystery Boy in class tomorrow. Rose loved a good mystery.


	3. You're On Thin Ice

**A/N: Sorry I've been so lax about updating. I have no excuse. The only thing I can say is that I got distracted with another fic. I've finished writing that one, but I haven't posted it yet. I've made a deal with myself that I can't post a chapter of that one until I update this one. So I'm posting this chapter, then next week I'll post the first chapter of the other one, then I'll post another chapter of this one, and so on. Hopefully this will help me keep a better schedule. Now to the story.**

Chapter 3: You're On Thin Ice

Scorpius awoke the next morning to the sound of something hitting the wall above his head and falling on his pillow with a soft thump. His eyes snapped open, and the first thing he saw was the scuffed sole of a size 12 shoe, half an inch from his face. Not wanting to get hit, Malfoy scrambled out of bed, shouting to his roomies, "What in the name of Merlin are you two doing?"

Two of his fellow sixth year boys, Goyle and Bertram Smith, had each other in headlocks and were gradually turning purple. Gasping through Goyle's hold on his neck, Smith choked, "He spilled his horrible cologne on my clean shirts. Now I'm going to smell like him all week!"

"What's your story?" Scorpius asked Goyle exasperatedly.

"He threw his shoe at me."

"Yeah, I noticed," Scorpius replied shortly. Knocking the shoe off his pillow to the floor, Scorpius threw it (the pillow, not the shoe) at the remaining Slytherin sixth year, who was still sleeping: "Come on, Herm. Let's get out of here before they break the place down."

Roughly five minutes later, Scorpius was straightening his tie as he and Herman Mohanigan made their way toward the Great Hall for breakfast. Despite the fact that his dorm mates were already at each other's throats, which really shouldn't surprise him much anymore as it was a regular occurrence, Scorpius thought the coming year held a lot of promise. He was just asking Herm if he thought they would have Transfiguration that morning when he walked through the Great Hall doors and straight into Rose Weasley.

Such a small girl should not make such a hard impact, Scorpius thought as he grabbed onto her in an attempt not to topple over in a pile of limbs. There were a few frantic moments of flailing arms and scrambling motions before both had successfully regained their balance.

"I'm so sorry!" Rose exclaimed as she disentangled herself and steadied him at the same time, "I really need to start paying attention to where I'm walking. My cousin Al tells me that I need to stop looking at my feet when I walk or one day I'll walk straight off the edge of the earth. That would be completely ridiculous since everyone knows there is no World's Edge, but you don't care about this, do you, Scorpius?"

Scorpius hadn't really been listening until she said his name. Once he realized who he had run into, he had been panicking and looking for an escape route. He knew he had made a resolution to talk to her this year, but it was the first day of class for Merlin's sake! He had expected to have some time to either work up the nerve or talk himself out of it before an opportunity even presented itself. Apparently Merlin had gotten bored in death and decided to mess with Scorpius' life. He hadn't even made it to his first class yet and here he was, holding her in his arms, and not in a fun way.

He had just been inwardly cursing Mohanigan for ditching him so fast when his name called him back to the situation at hand. _Oh shit, she expects me to say something. What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to think with her so close to me and the smell of her perfume clouding my brain? Oh! That's it! Step away. Put some distance between you and her, then maybe your higher thought processes will begin to function again instead of acting like a bunch of nargles invaded. _

With great difficulty, Scorpius unfogged his brain enough to remove her elbow from where it had accidentally plunged itself into his stomach, spit out a clump of her hair that had somehow ended up in his mouth, and arranged himself in a normal standing position. _Now say something cool and natural._

He smiled at her in a way he hoped said "casual" and not "nervous-out-of-his-pants." "Don't worry about it," he told her, "No one was hurt." _No one was hurt? Great, Scorpius, real great. I guess it's technically true. No one was hurt unless you count his elbowed abdomen and the chunk of her hair. But really, who got the worse end of that wand? Me or her? Her hair now has spit in it and will probably dry weird, but no one really likes hair in their mouth. While it may smell good, hair itself is not particularly tasty. I guess it's kind of a mutual loss._

"There you are, Cor," said a voice from behind him. Rose saw Blair coming, gave him a small smile and muttered, "Sorry again, Scorpius. I'll see you around," before she carefully stepped around him and walked out the doors.

He wanted to stop her, but he couldn't think of a reason. His brain seemed to have shut off again. Honestly? All he could think was _She was right in front of you and all you could do was panic and think of spit. Way to go, Scorpius. Way to go._

Refusing to give into the urge to swear in embarrassed frustration, Scorpius disregarded the irritating girl calling his name and stomped over to the Slytherin table where he took a seat next to Herm. He felt rather than saw Blair slide in next to him and linking her arm with his. He shrugged her off by reaching for the toast and piling half the stack onto his plate.

She huffed at his unresponsiveness, but practically cooed at him, "Good morning, Cor, honey."

He knew it was a bad idea. He knew he would get an angry letter from his father (but never a Howler because the plebian masses were not allowed to be privy to the internal dynamics of the Malfoy family). He knew he would never have done this in the past, but he was very confused about what had just happened with Rose, and he couldn't take Blair's stifling presence any longer.

Scorpius swung around on the bench, stared straight into Blair's over mascaraed eyes and spoke firmly, and possibly louder than necessary, "I will say this only once, so clear the hairspray out of your ears and listen: WE ARE NOT TOGETHER. I am _not_ your boyfriend. You are _not _my girlfriend. I'm not even sure that I like you as a person. So, please, give me some space." He turned back to his toast, feeling both guilty and oddly triumphant. Blair was still frozen and wide eyed when Scorpius added, "Oh, and stop calling me 'Cor.' It sounds ridiculous. My name is 'Scorpius.' Scor-pi-us. Is it really that difficult to say?"

Blair came back to life at his insulting of her precious pet name. She sat up impossibly straight and became frighteningly calm. Scorpius was so surprised at such an out of character display that he paused halfway through shoving a whole piece of toast in his mouth. He swallowed thickly as she leaned closer and hissed, "We _are _together. You _are_ my boyfriend. I _am _your girlfriend. We are an item until _I _say so because it's what _I_ want. And what I want is what my father wants. And if you don't give me what I want, my father will fire yours. And while he may not need the money, he will stop you from taking that stupid trip I know you've been dying to take for, like, ever. So watch it, _Cor_, you're on thin ice."

Scorpius felt as though he had been hit in the face with another shoe. The worst part was that she was completely right. She would complain to her father if Scorpius did something she didn't like. Mr. Zabini would fire Father. And then Father would take away his only chance to ever get away. From her. From school. From everything.

Ever since he could remember, Scorpius had been fascinated with Muggles. Not considered a particularly admirable trait in a Malfoy, Scorpius' father had not been thrilled with his son's obvious skill and interest in Muggle Studies. He had, however, agreed to allow Scorpius to take the summer between sixth and seventh year to try to live as a Muggle and travel Europe to his heart's content, as long as Scorpius continued to take all the classes his father deemed appropriate for joining the family trade and didn't do anything socially unacceptable. Making Blair Zabini angry (and her powerful father, through proxy) was exactly the sort of thing that would ruin his chances of living a summer without magic.

Dread caught in Scorpius' throat like a very dry, half-chewed piece of toast. Blair, seeing her victory was near, reclaimed his arm with a casual grace and poured herself a glass of orange juice. This time Scorpius didn't move away from her touch, mostly because she had saved her final demand for that moment, "Oh, and you're taking me to the Halloween Ball. I've already spoken to your father about it. I'll let you know when I decide what our costumes are."

At the end of her pronouncement, Blair downed her juice, kissed him on the cheek, and sauntered away, clearly pleased with herself and not caring that she had just left Scorpius considering stabbing his fork into his eyeball.

No longer hungry, Scorpius pushed his plate away and replaced it with his head. He had thought the day was holding some promise. Then he went and knocked Rose Weasley to the floor, tried to get rid of a permanent leech, and had failed miserably. Could it get any worse?

"Hey, mate," Herm nudged him, "let's go. We've got double Transfiguration this morning."

Apparently it could.

**A/N: Let me know what you thought.**

**Just in case you're curious, the other fic I'll be posting soon is another Scorpius/Rose. I guess I just have a thing for them. It's called **_**Teddy Lupin is Getting Married**_**, and I'm really excited about it. I hope you'll keep an eye out for it. **


	4. Let's Do Lunch Sometime

**It's Never Too Late**

**Chapter 4: Let's Do Lunch Sometime**

He was still in an angry mood hours later when he arrived early to Muggle Studies and slumped low in his chair with his arms folded and eyes narrowed. The rest of the class slowly filled in around him, ignoring him like always. He was the only Slytherin in the class, and his classmates hated him for it. He supposed he was one of the only Slytherins in history to take the class, let alone make it to the NEWT level with an Outstanding OWL. They were just jealous that a supposed "Muggle Hater" had scored better than all of them. Actually, he mused as a pair of Ravenclaws glared at him, a look which he gladly returned, they probably thought he took Muggle Studies because it was rumored to be a soft option. Well, that had something to do with it, he liked not having much homework, but it was truthfully his favorite subject.

It had started when they were allowed to pick new subjects. He had been wondering what he should take, so he asked his father for advice. For some reason, his father was always trying to put on a false front for the public. True, Mr. Draco Malfoy had never participated in Muggle Hunting or anything of the sort, but he did not like Muggles and thought he should hide that particular fact from the world. When his son asked him to help pick his classes, he found the perfect opportunity to show the community how much he loved Muggles, so he signed Scorpius up for Muggle Studies, which secretly became his favorite class.

Although Muggle Studies was his favorite, Scorpius had no real love for Muggles. He didn't care about their inventions or what they learned in school, in fact, he found all that quite boring. What he really loved was their literature. Nothing in school gave him more satisfaction than reading classic Muggle stories. Scorpius found them much more exciting than wizard stories. Muggles, he thought, had much more imagination than wizards. Muggles were unaware that magic was real, so they had a much wider range of things to fantasize about. Also, it was fun to see how they got everything so spectacularly wrong, but still created a genius piece of work. You would never find a wizard book about pirates. This was what made the boredom worthwhile for Scorpius.

Once the class had settled down and Professor Fitch-Fetchly had arrived, class began as it normally did on the first day after vacation. They went around the room and shared an experience they had with Muggles that summer. Scorpius hated these games. They were stupid and wasted time. No one really cares about what anyone else did over the break. He certainly didn't want to pretend to listen to the stories of people he didn't care about. They proceeded alphabetically while the professor took role, and by the time it was his turn, Scorpius had listed to several thoroughly made up stories about summer romances with Muggles and Muggle summer camps.

When Fitch-Fetchly called, "Malfoy? Did you have any exciting Mugglelike experiences?" Scorpius lied and said, "Nope. None," although he had read several fascinating novels and snuck out to see a movie for the first time in his life.

Looking slightly disappointed, the professor moved on to the next fabricated story. Scorpius was even more annoyed when the twit Aaron Moon wove a ridiculous story about teaching his five-year-old Muggle neighbor how to add and subtract. The whole class murmured appreciatively, and Rose gave Aaron an impressed smile that made Scorpius wish he had told some lie about heroically rescuing some Muggle orphan from a burning train wreck. Scowling, Malfoy pouted through the remainder of the tales until the last one: Rose.

Pretending not to be too interested, Malfoy listed to her story about flying in an airplane. As the class oohed and ahhed, Rose explained, "My grandfather took my brother and me to Rome by plane. Although it was exciting, the journey was slow and uncomfortable. I much prefer brooms."

The class chatted excitedly about Rose's experience, and the professor had to calm them down before he started his lecture about so-called household conveniences Muggles used, like refrigerators and microwaves. Scorpius paid no attention to Fitch-Fetchly's description of ice trays and revolving turntables, he was too busy trying to convince himself to talk to Rose about her trip. He could do that, no problem. Piece of cake, right?

When the bell rang, Scorpius quickly gathered his belongings and hurried to talk to Rose before she could escape out the door, but a group of classmates mobbed her on her way out. Scorpius waited impatiently as they questioned her about plane rides. Once the crowd had dispersed and Rose was allowed to proceed on her path down to dinner uninhibited, Scorpius was about to tap her on the shoulder, ready to ask her if flying was scary when Moon sidled up to her side, forcing Scorpius to back off.

As he watched, Moon asked, "Were you scared?"

_Damn,_ Scorpius thought. Maybe he could escape while she was answering. He looked around frantically for something to hide behind, but the hallway was unhelpfully devoid of any statues or hangings. As Moon moved away, she caught him looking at her, so he had to say something or risk looking even more foolish.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets so she couldn't see his fists balled with nerves. He managed a small smile and said, "Hi."

They started walking toward the Great Hall as he struggled to say something more intelligent and engaging. Clearing his throat, Scorpius blurted, "How was Rome?" inwardly flinching at how he had said it.

She looked at him thoughtfully, and somewhat surprised, before she said, "You know, you're the first person to actually ask me about the trip, instead of the flying." Relieved that he hadn't sounded stupid, Scorpius simply smiled without saying anything for fear that he would mess up again. "It was interesting," she continued, "I didn't understand a lot of the history of the place, but it was really pretty, especially the Coliseum and Vatican City. I mean, it wasn't like seeing a Quidditch World Cup or anything, but it was worth it." She looked at him, smiling, and he was worried that she expected him to say something else. What to say?

"Uh…" he began but was saved the hassle to thinking of anything to say when they entered the Great Hall for dinner, and James came running over to them.

"What do you think you're doing," he demanded, coming to a halt right in front of them and giving off waves of anger. "He's a _Slytherin_," James hissed, grabbing Rose's arm and began to drag her away, completely ignoring Scorpius.

"Nice talking to you," he called as they moved toward the Gryffindor table. Rose looked back and gave him a small smile and shrug before sitting down next to Albus.

"Let's do lunch sometime, Potter," he yelled to James before going to his own table. He knew he had made a scene, but James had ruined their lovely, one-sided conversation. Moodily, Malfoy scooped himself some mashed potatoes and gravely replayed the exchange in his head. It definitely did not go as he wanted it to go, but she didn't seem to hate him like the rest of the Gryffindors, not to mention the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Slightly cheered by this conclusion, Scorpius put Rose out of his mind as his friends joined him for dinner.

**A/N: Well, there it is. Took me long enough for such a short chapter. Share your thoughts, or don't, but thanks for reading in either case.**


	5. What Did You Help Her With?

Chapter 5: What Did You Help Her With?

"Rose! Rose, are you ready?"

The call of her cousin Lily roused Rose from her daydreams. She had just been thinking about how wonderful it would be if Hagrid let her ride one of the Thestrals. Imagine flying around at breakneck speed without any visible means of support. Thrilling.

With a sigh, Rose turned away from the glorious view out the window to face her fourteen-year-old cousin. Lily stood by the portrait hole with her hands on her hips and her right foot tapping impatiently; patience was not one of Lily's strong points.

It was Saturday, several weeks after the start of term. Normally, the Weasley and Potter children would spend their Saturdays together, but the boys had bailed that weekend. Quidditch tryouts were that morning. James was already on the team, captained by his cousin Fred. Hugo and Al, however, were not on the team and were trying for the open Chaser and Seeker spots.

Truthfully, Albus was only there to get his brother off his back. Rose knew that Al had no desire to be on the team. Not that he was a bad player or anything, he just took much more pleasure in his studies than sports.

Hugo, on the other hand, had a fair chance of making the team as a Chaser, but her would really prefer Beating, which had no open spots. Rose hoped he made it, of course, but it wasn't a terrible loss if he didn't. He was only a fourth year, and he had plenty of time. Besides, two relatives on the team was enough. Fred and James argued enough without throwing Hugo into the mix. Their fights were never dangerous or serious, but they were frequent enough that the rest of the team was sick of it.

As a tradition, the entire house showed up for tryouts, but Rose didn't feel like going this year. Tryouts were always the same, and she felt like she could accomplish more by staying in. Besides, James would give her a blow-by-blow analysis later on, so she really wasn't missing anything. Really, she was doing the rest of the family a favor because he had to tell someone, and if he didn't tell her, he would bore the people who had been there with all his blabbering.

Not wanting to spend the morning by herself, Rose had convinced Lily to join her. At first, Lily had been reluctant to forgo the tryouts, mainly because of the social aspect of the event. She agreed to stay inside, however, when Rose suggested they could discuss the male gender while none of them were around.

Their plan of action was to go to the library so Rose could work on her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay, but they would sit at a deserted table in the corner where no one would hear them whisper and giggle. Rose was fairly certain she wouldn't get any work done, but she'd feel better for trying.

The two girls headed off to the library arm in arm, and Lily was the first to bring up the subject.

"Rose," she queried, "do guys ignore girls on purpose, or are they really so dense that they don't realize when a girl likes them?"

Rose laughed and squeezed her cousin's arm playfully, "Why, Lily? What boy has dared to not acknowledge the existence of the stunning Lily Potter?"

Lily blushed, and Rose suspected she had guessed correctly. "Please just answer the question, Rose," she pleaded.

"Only if you answer mine."

Sighing, Lily gave in without much of a fight, "Fine. I'll tell you, but you have to answer first."

"Well," Rose said thoughtfully, "at your age, I truthfully think they just don't notice. I mean, it's not that they don't notice you; you should see how many heads you turn in the Great Hall; but they just find other things more important right now."

"When will they stop caring more about stupid things?" Lily asked in a whisper as they entered the library.

"Oh, they'll grow out of it. And fast," Rose replied as they wended their way through the shelves and put their bags down on a secluded table in the corner, "Now. Tell me who this new crush is."

Lily bit her lip nervously and looked at Rose with pleading eyes that clearly said, "Don't laugh," before mumbling, "Matt."

"Matt Thomas? That really tall and quiet boy from Ravenclaw?"

Lily nodded miserably and said, "I've tried everything, but he just ignores me. How do I make him talk to me?"

Rose scoffed, "Like I'd know." She'd never exactly been a boy magnet. Lily probably could have answered her questions better than she could.

"Maybe I could bet Molly to introduce me, I mean, they are on the team together…" but her words trailed off, and she stared over Rose's shoulder.

Puzzled by this sudden halt in conversation, Rose turned around to see the distraction. She found herself facing a Scorpius who looked quite confused, as if they occupied his normal table and he hadn't expected anyone to be there. He recovered from his confusion quite quickly, however, and smiled at them, inclining his head politely, before moving off to a table several away that was still in plain view of the girls.

Once Scorpius had moved off, Lily giggled and sighed, "He's so handsome. Probably the best looking one in the school."

"Really? You think so?" Rose asked as she turned to take in his appearance discreetly as he bent over his books. She had never really thought about it, but now that Lily mentioned it, she could see how his face had a pleasant oval shape, set off by his short blond hair. And there was something nice about his eyes.

"Of course I think so," Lily said so dreamily that Rose looked at her in amazement, "I mean, look at his handsomely straight nose, and I know from about twenty seconds ago that he has a beautiful smile. What's not to find attractive?"

"Shh. Don't talk so loud. He'll hear you," Rose hissed, glancing nervously in Scorpius' direction.

"He can't hear me," Lily said matter-of-factly, tossing her hair out of her face, "Too bad he's in Slytherin or he'd be the most sought after person at Hogwarts."

"What does it matter if he's in Slytherin?"

Lily looked at Rose incredulously, "Why does it matter? Because all Slytherins are jerks obviously. Why else?"

"Who told you that? Or do you have some actual experience with jerky Slytherins?"

"Well, for one thing, James told me. But," she continued when Rose made a skeptical noise and started to interrupt, "don't you remember that girl who pushed me into the wall? That wasn't so nice."

"She only did that because you spilled acid on her robes," Rose reminded her.

"I didn't do it on purpose, and I said I was sorry," Lily retorted. When Rose continued to smile at her teasingly she said, "Fine. Name one Slytherin who was good."

"Snape," was her immediate reply.

"Oh, yes," Lily rolled her eyes, "We all know Snape was such a great person, seeing how many times he saved Dad's life, but he definitely was not nice. Anyway, there's bound to be one good Slytherin once every thousand years, so the boy in question, Scorpius, is most likely a jerk. I mean, what are the odds?"

"You still don't know he's a jerk."

"Fine," Lily said wickedly, "If he's so unjerkish, I dare you to go talk to him."

"Ha. You dare me? How old are we, Lily? Eight? No one dares anymore."

"Sounds like you're afraid. Well, you'd better get over your fear pretty fast because if you don't do it, I'll tell your mother that you bought a book with the money she gave you to buy new potion supplies," Lily threatened, and Rose knew she was as good as her word.

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Not my problem."

Slowly, glaring at her cousin, Rose stood up from their table and walked toward Scorpius. _What am I going to say? What am I going to say?_ she thought frantically as each step brought her closer to him. _Maybe I can still turn back, _she thought, but at that moment, Scorpius looked up, and she knew she had no choice but to go ahead with it.

When she reached his table, she stood awkwardly next to him and murmured, "Hi," to which he answered using the same greeting. Uncertain of what to do, Rose stood there looking at him, now painfully aware of his gorgeous features at such a close proximity.

Scorpius gestured to the chair across from himself, indicating she could sit down if she wanted. Taking the seat more for something to do than because she wanted to, Rose nervously faced Scorpius, still wondering what she was going to say. Her mind raced and legs shook as she looked at him, noticing with surprise that he also seemed a little nervous, and it was this more than anything that gave her the courage to speak.

"Um, I'm taking a survey for one of my classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you my question," she blurted, pleased at herself for thinking of such a good excuse.

"Alright. Shoot," he said, sending Rose into a mental panic because she had no idea what to say. Casting around for an idea, he eyes landed on the Transfiguration essay he was working on, and she asked the first thing that popped into her head: "What's your favorite spell?"

Right after she said it, she immediately regretted it. What's your favorite spell?! Could she have asked a dumber question?

Scorpius furrowed his bros in contemplation of the question. _Oh_, Rose thought, _he is so cute when he's thinking._

"Uh, I don't know," Scorpius said while rubbing his head thoughtfully, "I guess it would have to be the Stunning Spell."

"Why?" Rose asked, before quickly adding, "If you don't mind my asking."

"Well," he said hesitantly, "it's kind of a dumb reason. I think the incantation is funny. Stupify. Like you're trying to make someone stupider. I don't know, I guess it makes me laugh."

Rose found herself smiling at his answer because she had never thought of it that way. Catching her look, he asked, "What?"

"Nothing. I just haven't heard that one before."

"Really? Well then, what's yours?"

"Oh." Rose thought for a moment before saying, "I like the Unlocking Spell. Alohamora. I think is sounds like a greeting."

"Alohamora," Scorpius laughed with an exaggerated wave, "I see what you mean."

As he smiled at her, Rose caught herself staring at him and, realizing what she was doing, cleared her throat hastily, saying, "Well, er, thank you. I'll let you get back to your work."

As she rose, he replied, "It was no trouble. By the way, what class was that for?"

"What class?" Rose repeated, trying not to panic. What should she say? She was going to look like an idiot. Just as she opened her mouth to stall, an angry voice came from between the shelves: "Scorpius! There you are. I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Rose turned that direction just in time to see Blair Zabini stalking out from hiding. "Don't you remember you promised to eat lunch with me today? I reminded you last night, but I've been waiting for you for the last half an hour! What are you doing?" she said loudly, ignoring the library rule of whispering.

"Relax, Blair," he said warily, "I was doing my homework. Maybe you should try it sometime."

Outraged by his answer, Blair looked for some way to vent her anger and humiliation, her eyes landing on Rose, who had been watching this unfortunate exchange. "What are you looking at?" she demanded, looking at Rose with eyes full of suspicion and contempt, "This is a private conversation. Leave."

Turning to Scorpius, Rose said politely, "Thank you for your help. I guess I'll see you in class on Monday."

"It was my pleasure," he replied, gazing back at her with a small, apologetic smile.

Rose walked back to Lily, who hadn't even pretended to be engaged in an activity other than watching the scene before her, and began to pack up her unfinished work. Behind her, she heard Blair furiously hiss, "What did you help her with?"

Smirking, Rose left the library with Lily hurrying to keep up. The girls made their way toward the Great Hall, giggling about Blair's fury, since neither girl much liked her. When her giggling had subsided, Lily turned to Rose and said expectantly, "So, what did you find?"

"About what?"

"Oh, come on, Rose," Lily pleaded, "Was he a jerk?"

"Oh, that," Rose replied, as if she couldn't be bothered by thinking about it, "He was alright, I guess. Nothing like dear Matt, I suppose." Rose watched her cousin blush and moved aside as the boys joined them, full of excitement from tryouts.

"Well, ladies," James said importantly, "You missed out on some excellent flying. Unfortunately, neither of these two lads made the team, but it was a narrow miss." Neither of the mentioned boys seemed to be taking the loss too hard, as they were deep in conversation about the best way to clean a broom handle and had plates heaping with food.

As James began his predictable post-tryout analysis, Rose noticed a pair of people walking toward the Slytherin table. One was the irate Blair, who seemed to be trying to hold hands with a smirking Scorpius, but failing terribly.

Unsure why this would be making her happy, Rose continued to watch as Scorpius offered Blair a seat on the bench with mocking chivalry, which she accepted huffily. As she watched Scorpius engage his friend Melanie in conversation, she heard, "Rose, are you listening to me?"

Starting, she looked guiltily back at James, saying, "Sorry. Go on." She was careful not to look toward the Slytherin table and to listen to every word James said for the rest of the meal, but she couldn't help smiling.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it.**


	6. There Has to be a Way Out

Chapter 6: There Has to be a Way Out

October had always been his favorite month. The leaves turned colors and the air contained a pleasant nip. He liked nothing better than sitting by the common room fire with a steaming mug of Butterbeer and listen to Mel argue with Blair about the best fall fashions. Not that he really cared about which color was more popular, russet red or pumpkin gold, but he enjoyed listening to Mel get more and more worked up until she usually dumped the remainder of her drink over Blair's head. It was all rather amusing.

As much as the small things like this made him happy, October's main event was his favorite. Scorpius loved the excited anticipation of the first Hogsmeade visit, followed by the Halloween feast. Who didn't like a day full of visiting their favorite stores and then stuffing their stomach with delectable treats they only had once a year?

It was the week of Halloween and Scorpius was getting pumped. He made his way down to breakfast in high spirits, not even bothered by the dreadful weather outside: gray storm clouds full to bursting with rain and howling winds that had to be shouted over, even indoors.

Sitting down next to Mel at the Slytherin table and pouring himself some juice, Scorpius asked her, "So, this weekend is the first Hogsmeade visit."

"I know. You've reminded me every day for the last week," she said exasperatedly.

Undaunted, he continued, "Well, we should start planning what we're going to do so we don't waste time once we get there."

"You are such a dork. Maybe I don't want to go to Hogsmeade. Ever thought about that?"

"Fine," Malfoy said, "I was planning to buy you anything you wanted at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, but if you'd rather not go…" He watched the effects of his words with satisfaction and was not surprised when Mel gave in.

"You win. Where else do you want to go?"

Smiling, Scorpius began to explain his idea, "I thought we'd start with the quill shop, I need a new one. Then, we would head over to Honeyduke's because I want to buy my dad a birthday present. After that, we'll go to the Weasley place and finish off at the Three Broomsticks. How's that sound?"

Before Mel could answer, Blair sat down between them, saying, "How does what sound?"

Scorpius hesitated before saying, "Mel and I were planning the trip to Hogsmeade."

"Why are you planning with her? You're going with me," Blair said matter-of-factly.

"What are you on about?"

"Well," Blair said smugly, "I just received a letter from your father saying that you would buy me anything I wanted on our Hogsmeade date."

"Did he now?" Scorpius challenged her, "And what makes him so sure that I'll be taking you?"

"I don't know," she replied unconcernedly, "But he said he would make you see that nothing would make you happier than taking me to Hogsmeade. He said your reluctance is becoming ridiculous, and I must say I agree with him. We belong together, Cor, why must you keep trying to deny it? Besides," she added, seeing the rebellious look on his face, "it looks like your father sent you something to knock some sense into you."

Scorpius looked up to see the family owl flying toward him with a letter in its beak. "Well, I'm off to class," said Blair as he followed its progress toward him, "I want to redo my makeup before I go."

She stole a kiss before he could stop her and sauntered out of the Great Hall looking happy with the way the conversation had gone in her favor. Scowling, Scorpius opened the letter and began to read while Mel watched curiously.

When he had finished reading the letter, he angrily crumpled the piece of paper and threw it as hard as he could at the ceiling, accidentally hitting a flying owl out of the air.

"What's it say?" Mel asked as the bird crash landed at the teacher's table, right in the middle of Clearwater's porridge.

"Basically," Scorpius spat, "Mr. Zabini is rich and powerful, and my father is trying to worm his way into a closer acquaintance through me."

"So just disobey him," Mel suggested as Scorpius glared angrily at a pitcher of orange juice.

"I can't," he mumbled, "He threatened to cancel the magic-less, summer trip around Europe that I've been planning for the last two years if I don't do this. I have no choice."

Mel grimaced before saying, "There has to be a way out."

Scorpius snorted and said, "Tell me if you think of one," before slinging his bag over his shoulder and stalking angrily off to Muggle Studies.

Scorpius stormed into the classroom several minutes late, ignoring the professor's reprimand as he sat down in the only empty seat, front row center. Turning his attention away from Scorpius, Fitch-Fetchly addressed the rest of the class, "Today we are going to discuss your favorite book from the list of Muggle books you should have read by now." He ignored the nervous rustling of those who didn't read them all and began to call on individuals.

If Scorpius had been hoping an intelligent conversation would cheer him up, he was sorely let down. His anger (why was it that he always seemed to be angry in this class these days?) increased as each kid picked the same cliché books for the same overrated reasons. The most common was _The Wizard of Oz_, which most said they enjoyed because they like to laugh at the notion of a green-skinned witch, but Scorpius knew it was their "favorite" because it was the first on the reading list and the only book they had actually read.

By the time the eleventh person in a row had said _The Wizard of Oz_, Scorpius was so fed up with the word "Munchkin" that he could have screamed the next time he heard it. Fitch-Fetchly apparently felt the same way because he interrupted Moon's rant about the delights of Emerald City and asked impatiently, "Did anyone like a book besides _The Wizard of Oz_? Anyone? Please?" Seeing a hand in the back of the room, he brightened and called, "Yes?"

Not bothering to turn around and see who had been called on, Scorpius listened to the answer of _Romeo and Juliet_, before snorting contemptuously and saying, "_Romeo and Juliet_ was a stupid book."

To be fair, given his current mood, Scorpius probably would have said the book was stupid even if they had happened to mention his favorite, _The Three Musketeers_.

Gasps followed his outburst, and Moon yelled angrily, "What gives you the right to condemn it? You think you're some sort of literary genius?"

"What's it to you? You've probably never heard of the book before, despite it being on the list. Admittedly, the book list itself must have been too long for you to handle, so you never knew dear Romeo was on it," Malfoy retorted, swinging to face an enraged Moon.

Moon's equally angry, but less intelligent response was drown out by Fitch-Fetchly's scolding, "Enough, boys. Now, let's see if we can turn what has been an annoyingly boring and ignorant lesson into something interesting. Miss Weasley, kindly tell us what appealed to you in the story, then Mr. Malfoy can enlighten us as to why he finds it so 'stupid.'"

_Damn. That's why my comment mattered to Moon_, Scorpius thought, _because _Rose _said it. Everyone knows he has a completely unreturned crush on her. I should have known better than to shout out because of my temper. Now she probably hates me. Just as I was getting to know her better and beginning to hope she doesn't think I'm a complete idiot. Well, it's too late now._

Turning in his seat to face her, he listened to her arguments. "Well," she said slowly, "I thought it was wonderful how the two characters, that is Romeo and Juliet, were able to put aside their family prejudices and see each other for what they really were, ignoring their parents."

"Oh, please," Scorpius interjected, disregarding the outraged look on Moon's face for interrupting her. "'Seeing each other for that they really are?'" he repeated incredulously. "Romes and Juliet were such flakes that they didn't even know anything about each other before they were married or died. The only thing that brought them together was their physical attraction and the idea of forbidden fruit."

"I guess you don't believe in love at first sight then," she said. When he rolled his eyes at that, she continued undaunted, "Well, even if they were shallow, I admire their loyalty to their love. Juliet came up with a brilliant plan for them to be together, sacrificing everything they both knew."

Scorpius snorted, "Yeah. Brilliant but fatal. The only reason Juliet thought of the plan was to get out of marrying that guy Paris. She didn't do it out of love, she did it out of selfishness and to spite her father." _Poor Juliet,_ he added in his head, _sometimes I feel just like her._

"You're certainly a love story skeptic, aren't you? Did you get anything out of the story?" Rose asked, looking almost afraid of what he was going to say.

"Yeah. The moral of the story is that it's pointless loving someone so different from what's expected of you. You can't change your fate," he said bitterly, looking down at his hands.

"That's not the moral," she said softly, causing him to look up into her face, "The moral is that you can't help who you love, and to never give up trying to fulfill that love." She blushed lightly and looked away from him. He continued to look at her, feeling that she had somehow known that his last comment had been about himself and Blair, rather than Romeo and Juliet.

Fitch-Fetchly's voice praising their discussion brought Scorpius out of his reverie just in time to pack his bag and dazedly follow the crowd out of the room. He only came fully out of his daze when Peeves very nearly dropped a gigantic golden cauldron on his head. Coming back to reality, Malfoy realized he was almost late for Herbology and ran there as quickly as he could. Arriving a few minutes later, out of breath and sweaty, he took his place next to Mel.

Without waiting for him to catch his breath, she whispered, "You're late. Nevermind. I have a solution to your problem!"

Scorpius had to wait until Professor Longbottom had given them instructions on how to uproot and prepare Gurdy roots for use in potions before he could question her. As the class went about its task and conversations broke out, Scorpius asked curiously, "What's your big idea?"

Looking absorbed in helping Goyle find the correct end of his trowel to dig with, Mel said, "You go to detention."

Scorpius blinked, "What? Just walk into detention?"

"No, you idiot," she sighed, "You obviously get in trouble and are sent to detention."

"And how is this going to help me?" he queried, desperately trying to understand the merit of this plan.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? Don't answer that," she added when he nodded. "If you have detention, you have an excuse not to go to Hogsmeade with Blair and she won't be smart enough to realize you did it on purpose."

Scorpius thought about the pros and cons while trying to pull out a particularly large Gurdy root. Once the thing had come out, he had come up with an important question, "As much as I wanted to go to Hogsmeade, I guess I'd rather not go than spend the time with Blair, but once my dad finds out I got detention, I'll never go on my trip. Blair would tell him I got in trouble, and I'll never be allowed to do anything again. Ever."

"Ah. That's why you don't tell them why you got detention. We'll be careful to make sure Blair doesn't find out. We'll tell her and your father that Longbottom gave you detention just because he hates you. It's not technically true, but your father automatically believes things like that so there will be no problem. Blair will believe it if you tell her, especially if you seduce her," she said, ignoring his rage at this last part.

Taking his anger out on the ground in front of him, Scorpius thought about what she had told him. Unable to find any flaw in the plan, he next asked, "What type of trouble were you thinking?"

Once again checking to make sure no one was listening, she bent forward to whisper in his ear, "We're going to start a food fight."

"Are you crazy?" he yelled, dropping his trowel in surprise and squishing several of his Gurdy roots. Scorpius blushed as the whole class turned to look at him and pretended to be absorbed in his work for several minutes before the class lost interest and he could hiss to Mel, "We would be expelled, or, if we're lucky, we'd be banned from the Great Hall for eternity and have to eat every meal under strict supervision in the dungeon! I'd rather not risk it. Thanks, but no thanks!"

Mel shot him a scornful glance, "Do you think I'm an idiot and haven't thought of all these things? Obviously we stage it so no one can tell who started it, or we make it look like an accident, but then we take part so we get detention. It's perfect."

Scorpius surveyed her for a moment before saying, "You're serious, aren't you?"

When she nodded, he added, "You realize we're taking a huge risk."

"Yes, but look on the bright side. If either of you punishments come true, you will spend less time with Blair. Considerably less if you get expelled. What do you say, Cor?"

"Don't call me that," he growled, but smiled in spite of himself. "Fine, but this plan better be executed without a hitch," he warned.

Mel rubbed her hand together excitedly and began plotting, leaving Scorpius to work distractedly and worry.

**A/N: Up next: Operation Food Fight. **


End file.
